#WIPWednesday Sculpture: "Sashah's Song"

A little over a year ago I started this sculpture of Sashah, the werewolf enchantress, who is one of the main characters of my stories.

A Glimpse at the Stages of the Sculpture: "Sashah's Song"

  

  

In time I hope to better document all the crazy steps of this project, but in the meantime, here's a glimpse of how she's progressed from her original sketch onwards through some of the many stages of sculpting. For more WIP photos of this and other projects, please keep an eye on my Twitter!

Size: 7 x 7 x 13 inches

Current Time Taken: 170+ hours to date

Latest Updates:
 

 

At the present time, I've finished sculpting, baking, sanding, filing, patching, and primering the sculpture, and am currently working on painting on the base colors of her! I decided to challenge myself and tackle one of the most difficult areas first: her leather pants, complete with rivets, lacing, and lots and lots of patience! Those overlapping areas are SO tiny!

The Pre-Painting Photo Shoot for "Sashah's Song"
 

Before I got to work sanding, filing, patching, primering, and painting this sculpture, my dear friend Dana Bishop was find enough to photograph her so I had a better record of how the sculpture looked at this stage because, well, iPhone photos only do so much. ;)

 

 

So Much Patching!
 

While baking went fine, the sculpture suffered some hairline cracks during transport to and from the photoshoot, so unfortunately it took me a lot of time afterwards to sand, file, patch, and then resand her. All the white areas you see in the many photos below are patched.

  

 

 

 

 

Primer Time!
 

I painted the primer by hand as well as with an airbrush because I had certain areas like the translucent nails where I wanted them to remain their original color, and other areas like the jewelry where I wanted to use a black primer instead to help make the future metallic paint "pop." It took about three coats for complete coverage.

 

 

 

  

 

Working on the Test Base
 

I have some pretty ambitious plans for the final stages of this sculpture, and one of them includes making the base look to be a creek-crossing, complete with a dragon koi in the "water." In order to create this illusion, I decided to try using a clear casting resin. My thought was that I could line the outside in Monster Clay and coat it with a release agent and it should act as a sort of sculptable mold. That's the theory at least!

Before even considering doing this to my actual sculpture, I created a small and very basic test base in order to test this technique as well as how I might sculpt the outer edge and add additional levels of detail, like ripples to the water's surface. It's turned out good so far, but I would like to try some new methods and give it another go before applying these techniques to the actual werewolf sculpture.

I think my little test koi is adorable. ;)

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

The Start of Color
 

After a lot of deliberation, I figured out the color scheme I'll be using on this sculpture, and have been busying purchasing paints and mixing them as well. I'm still not entirely committed to the colors of the enchantress's dress, but once I am totally committed, I'll be posting the mock-up for it as well. :)

 

  

  

 

I look forward to sharing more updates with you about this personal project that is so very dear to my heart. I hope that some day you might enjoy learning more about her and her story too!


Thanks for reading, and joining me on the journey!

#TipTuesday: Sharing My Productivity Tracker

I'm a huge fan of holding myself accountable for how I use my time, so for over a year and a half now I've used a custom tracker to keep track of a number of things, including how much art and writing I do on a given day, as well as how many steps I've taken and how well I've eaten and what sorts of things I spent my time on.

I try to make sure that these things are very easy for me to input to encourage me to keep up with the tracker and meet weekly goals, and I thought it might help to share the same customizable tracker with you!

Here is a Google Sheets document which includes a blank version of the tracker I use to help increase my productivity! You're welcome to save a copy & use it for yourself. :)  --> http://bit.ly/1J2qCo9

More about the Tracker and How to Use It

 

Example of a blank weekly log for art and writing

Included in the tabs:

• Your Log
• Your Historical Info
• Log Example
• Historical Example
• Tracker for Artists
• Tracker for Writers Without Part Numbers
• Tracker for Writers With Part Numbers
• Tracker for Artists and Writers

The tabs can be found along the bottom of the sheet:

I've found that weekly goals work better for me than daily goals, so that's how I set this up. I feel that part of striking a good balance in your life means holding yourself accountable for how you're spending your time on the whole, while also respecting that some days you simply need to take some R&R and watch Netflix, see friends, or what have you.

As far as this tracker is concerned, you simply need to set weekly goals for yourself in the "Hours to Weekly Goal" row, and as you make progress, they will turn green when you hit the threshold you set. As you can see in the example below, I've already met my weekly goal for hours spent writing and doing art for this week (yay!), but I haven't met my blogging or words written goals just yet.

You can track how much you want to exercise, do art, write, how healthy you're eating: you name it! And you can take notes on how you spent each day in the "Notes" section.

You can even set goals months out in the "Next Milestone" section so you're mindful of approaching milestones.

Example of a Weekly Log. This is mine from this week! I still have a few days left to meet my next milestone.

There are quite a few formulas included in it to help ease everything along, including a Food grade tracker to help track how you're eating in a given week. I generally envision "C' as making eating choices that will maintain my weight, whereas regular, healthier meals that would encourage me to lose weight could fall into the "B" or "A" category depending on a number of factors including their caloric intake and nutritional value. Keep in mind that you can track as much or as little as you like, so feel free to customize your tracker for what works best for you!

Once the week is over, you can move that week's data into the "Historical" tab, and then start fresh. You can change the date in the top-most row, and everything below will automatically populate as well. Feel free to change up your hours to weekly goals so that you can set realistic goals for yourself.

Example of a Historical Tab

I hope you enjoy checking out my productivity tracker and might consider using it for yourself. Let me know if you have any questions on how to customize your own tracker, or if there is a new template you would like to see me offer! 

My 2015 Year in Review

2015 year has been something, alright!

I'm not ashamed to admit that the first half was pretty heavy and depressing for me, as I was still reeling over the loss of one of my dear friends, Kevin Kanai Griffith. :(

I felt like in early 2015 it had to really force myself to do personal writing (and I did), but the art side of things wasn't coming nearly as easily for me, and somewhere in late 2014 and early 2015 I felt like someone had shaken me awake to get me to really sit down and think if I was happy with the trajectory of my career as a Community Manager at Blizzard. In truth, I was content and I certainly enjoyed a lot of the work I was doing, but I kept finding myself wondering if I was selling myself short by not even letting myself consider the possibility of a more creative career in the arts.

The thought was terrifying, and then after a time, it was inspiring. What could my life be like in another five or ten years if I let myself pursue the arts? Would I even be capable, qualified, or skilled enough to change careers and find success in something so different? Would I have to leave Blizzard to progress?

In the early half of 2015, I didn't talk about it, but behind the scenes, I gave it my all.

I applied to a job at Blizzard as a Media Artist within Story and Franchise Development (formerly known as Cinematics) and Video and Post Production with every ounce of passion I had. I spent countless hours on my cover letter, resume, portfolio, and then threw myself into the art test and preparing for the eventual interview.

And I got it.

And I haven't looked back.

I talked about my new opportunities within Blizzard in this blog post, but even in the time since, I've got to tell you: I am so much happier. I have so much more creative energy both during and after work, and feel like I am just buzzing with ideas. I feel like myself again, in the best possible way. I love being surrounded by so many creative individuals, I am digging my new work/life balance, and I am so excited for where the future will take me. I'm glad I dared to make the change, and that I had the opportunity to join such an immensely talented, passionate, and wonderful team.

So when I look back at the first half of this year, part of me cringes that there isn't a lot to show for it publicly, but man, if you could see all the hours and hours that went into my portfolio/art test, you would probably understand that that's completely fine by me. :)

I remember about a year ago at this time I was really struggling with whether or not to make a career change, and I'm immensely glad I did. If I had any piece of advice in all of this, it's to be willing to believe in yourself and pursue your own happiness with as much gusto as you can muster! It's never too late to follow your heart!

12 Glimpses of My 2015 Year in Review
 

This year was extremely busy, but I put together 12 of my "top" projects throughout the year, which you can see above and learn more about below:

1. World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life: While I technically completed this official project in the middle of 2014, it wasn't actually posted publicly until May of 2015. It was definitely a fun project to try to realize Monarch Brightwing in a butterfly-cosplay-sized sculpture, but I really enjoyed the challenge! It was one of the first full-body sculptures I'd done in years, too!
    
2. This year I did a fair bit of personal writing, organizing, blogging, and a boatload of social media. I made 16 blogs in 2015, including numerous blogs detailing walkthroughs of my various projects. I'm hoping to increase that number in 2016, as well as to really kick my writing into gear!
    
3. This is one of the many composite images I created for my portfolio for my media artist job application. I spent so much time working on the contents of it, and I'm so very glad it all paid off. :)
    
4. Matt Murdock (Daredevil): Avocado at Law: I got really into Netflix's Daredevil this year, and allowed myself a bit of a breather to do some loose fan art of him in the middle of the year.
    
5. 30 Day Story-Sketch Challenge: Day 2: Protection: In July I decided to challenge myself to partake in a 30-day challenge to sketch characters and environments from a story I wrote, and would like to get back to editing in order prompt me to get back in the headspace of those characters. This is the second day's image of two of the main characters. Unfortunately I only made it about five days in before I got really sick and put the challenge on ice for awhile, but I definitely plan to give it another go next year.
    
6. 'Butterscotch' - World of Warcraft Fan Art Yak: Gah, this project was a beast! Started on November 3rd, 2012 and completed on July 26, 2015, this project spanned many years, and was subject to so much scope creep and technical hurdles that it was sometimes incredibly frustrating to keep moving forward with it, but finally, finally it is done. During the last two years, I've been trying to finish off a number of long outstanding projects and this was one of them. It was also a more than subtle reminder that money and time are hardly limitless, so it's important to make sure you're spending your time on projects you find worthwhile, and well, that you actually finish them.
    
7. “Dragon Mage” – ZBrush Sculpture: This is yet another project that had been put on ice for awhile that I finished up in 2015. I had a lot of fun with the patterning on this fella. :)
    
8. Sculpture: "Friendship": Amidst a lot of really time-intensive projects (like the job application, Monarch Brightwing Sculpture, and Yak project), when Cindy visited me this year I was somewhat emphatic that I wanted to to a project we could actually complete during a few days, and this ended up being just that. :) I'd long wanted to experiment with a particular type of air dry clay, and had a wonderful time sculpting with my seester! <3
    
9. Demon Pig from 2015 BlizzCon Sketch Group: I enjoyed working at the BlizzCon Art Gallery this year as well as at the BlizzCon Sketch Group. The theme for the sketch group was "demon + pig" so I had fun with it. :)
    
10. Crafty Secret Santa and "Sailor Usagi": This year I hosted a special Secret Santa-type exchange for crafty people that you can read about here, and by and large I feel it's been a great success! My own giftee enjoyed (among other things) Sailor Moon and rabbits, so I forged her interests together into a fun little sculpture gift. It was a lot of fun to be able to allow my creativity to go wild on another short-form sculpture!
     
11. Jeweled Lion Sculpture (Work in Progress): While it's not done yet, in late December I discovered yet another abandoned project from many years ago (2011), and I decided to take a break from my other projects to try to and make it into something with a bit better form. I'm looking forward to finishing it off!
     
12. “Sashah's Song” – Mixed Media Sculpture (Work in Progress - Current as of December 17, 2015 - Photographed by Dana Bishop): I started this sculpture way back in late 2014, and it sat around for the bulk of the year before I got moving again on it in the later half of 2015. It's a sculpture of one of the lead protagonists of my stories, who happens to be a werewolf enchantress. Much like the Yak, this project has encountered numerous technical battles along the way, including not fitting properly in a home oven, which meant I had to build an oven to bake it, so... suffice to say, she has continued to be a labor of love, and I'm really hoping I can finish her off in the near future. :) I figure I'm around 106 hours in at this point, and there are a lot more photos of her over on my Twitter accounts @KLeCrone and @Vaeflare. To date, this is very possibly the project I'm proudest of so far!

On to 2016!

All-in-all it's been quite a year, and I can't wait to see what 2016 holds! Some personal things I'm aiming to accomplish in the new year include:

1. Complete "Sashah's Song" Sculpture
2. (Re)learn how to mold and cast
3. Finish one or more short stories
4. Keep moving forward with one or more novels
5. Learn some new art materials (CX5, I'm looking at you!)
6. Finish at least one outstanding art project and selectively retire others
7. Sell some new personal art
8. Continue to infuse my unique vision into my work
    

Conventions/Festivals I Am Planning to Attend in 2016

1. February - The Southern California Writer's Conference
2. May - Lightning in a Bottle
3. July - San Diego Comic Con
4. August - PAX Prime (Planned)  

Thank you for all your support in 2015, and thanks for joining me on my creative journey!

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life

Back in 2014 when I was still a Community Manager, I worked on an official project relating to a character for the Blizzard game Heroes of the Storm, and due to one thing or another, it took over a year for all the requested blogs relating to the project to finally be published on the official site, but at last in May of 2015, the final blog and photos were posted on Battle.net, and I wanted to share the final results here for posterity as well :)

Originally I shared with you how this project began and the various stages required to sculpt the Monarch Brightwing sculpture that will serve as the base of what may very well be the world’s first butterfly cosplay!* In the second part of this blog series, I showed you the colorful and creative steps that followed, and in this blog, we’re putting it all together and bringing Monarch Brightwing to life with a live monarch butterfly from my home garden!

 

The in-game model is seen on the left, and my sculpture is seen on the right. All it needs now is a regal monarch!

Where We Left Off
 

When we last left off, Monarch Brightwing was all painted, sealed, and ready for her guests, and it was time for everything to come together to complete this unique take on cosplay!  Here are the final results:

 

Did You Know?
 

Monarch butterfly populations have plummeted so much in recent years that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now believes there might be reason to protect them under the Endangered Species Act.

You can learn more about how you can help raise monarchs and milkweed plants at MonarchWatch.org.

All monarch butterflies used in this project were hand-raised and released into the wild after photographing.

Outtakes!
 

Things don’t always go as planned when you’re working with one (or more!) live subjects, so here are some of my favorite outtakes of Monarch Brightwing and her fluttery entourage.

 

 

 

I'd highly recommend checking out the original blogs which are posted directly on Blizzard's website because there are a lot more photos and details about the process there (and with much better formatting)!

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 1: Sculpting Monarch Brightwing

World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 2: Painting Monarch Brightwing
World’s First Butterfly Cosplay – Part 3: Bringing Monarch Brightwing to Life

If you're interested in finding out more about Heroes of the Storm, you can learn more about this fun team brawler here on our official site. And if you work at Blizzard or manage to get a tour of campus, you can see this little guy currently on display at the Blizzard Museum!

Do you have any questions about painting materials, the creative process for this project, or raising monarchs? Let me know in the comments below!

As this project was done on-the-clock for work, all photos of Brightwing and my Brightwing sculpture are Copyright Blizzard Entertainment. All standalone monarch photos are copyright Kimberly LeCrone.

* - As far as we know!